The Best Birthday Present
by whistlerstwin
Summary: Violet hoped never to have to confront her memories. Unfortunately, she may have toand she may have to tell her siblings what happened to her when they were with Olaf. Its a oneshot with chapters, if you will. Chapter 4 up!
1. Default Chapter

The Best Birthday Present

A/N: I wrote this after watching the movie A Series of Unfortunate Events. I've read the books but this story is definitely based on the movie-with a little input of Olaf's continued mis-treatment of the orphans. I would also like to warn any one who is reading this that this story does deal with abuse, so if you're squeamish, or if that sort of thing unnerves you-well, beware. The story also contains the "d" word. This idea has not been very explored, but this should cover it.

This story is written from Violet's point of view, with a small piece of Klaus's.

Also, just so its said, I own nothing but my own ideas and even then, they're probably borrowed.

The Nightmare

I screamed and sat up, covered in sweat. I looked around me, still confused and terrified. I realized that I was still in my room and pulled my knees to my chest, making the sheets tent around me. I went back over the nightmare in head. Count Olaf had been there, of course, and I had the vague idea that he was dressed in some idiotic disguise to try and fool us into believing he was some other person. I shook my head. Funny how he had never fooled us and, yet, managed to fool every other adult in our lives. He always wanted our money which was kind of funny. He put so much effort into tracking us down and so much money into his disguises that he was probably poorer than when he started out. I wasn't sure where my siblings were, yet I knew that they hadn't been in _that_ particular dream. I paused in my musings and listened to see if I had woken Sunny or Klaus. I heard the sound of foot steps, two pairs, coming towards my door. I smiled, despite the reason for their coming, just because they cared.

There was a quick knock and then the door swung open wide to allow my brother and sister into my room.

"Violet, are you alright?" Klaus asked breathlessly.

"Alright?" Sunny echoed.

She had learned to speak more accurately and completely as the years wore on, but in times of great distress would revert back to either her equivalent of baby talk or short phrases.

I nodded and gave them a hesitant smile. Both of my siblings came over to my bed. Klaus grabbed a chair for himself and Sunny climbed up to sit beside me. I lowered my knees and swung my legs towards Klaus so that she would have room on the twin bed to sit.

"Another dream…?" Klaus asked quietly.

I sighed. "More like a nightmare. I can't figure it out. I mean I'm almost twenty-one! I shouldn't be having nightmares anymore." Sunny had moved closer at my outburst.

Klaus smiled. "Only two more days…"

He was referring to my birthday. Once I had turned eighteen, I had become a guardian to my siblings. The judge didn't want to allow it, of course, but Klaus had found a loophole in one of his law books. Even better, we had been able to get a piece of the Baudelaire Fortune, enough to buy a house out in the country, away from everyone. I worked, but only because I enjoyed it. I invented things, put patents on them, and then sold them to companies. On my own, I was managing to make a small fortune. Klaus worked at the Meadow Brook library. He had graduated early, completing high school in only a matter of weeks. He was contemplating college but didn't want to go away from us. Sunny still attended school where she was known to be an articulate speaker, and a creative and kind person. Her hair had darkened and she reminded me of our mother more and more each day. I suppose as a throw-back to her biting days, she rarely didn't have gum in her mouth but she wasn't obnoxious with it the way some children are.

In two days, I would turn twenty-one and inherit the entire fortune. Klaus and I had already made plans for our and Sunny's future, mostly to invest the money. Mr. Poe had been delighted, of course, when we had mentioned investing. "'I knew in my care, you would see the most obvious place to place your money,'" he had said.

"What was the nightmare about?" Sunny asked, turning her head to me.

I shook my head. "I'm still not sure. I know that Count Olaf was there."

At mention of the Count's name, she made a face.

"What was he doing?" Klaus asked.

I fought to make my face carefully blank. "I think he was chasing us but I didn't see you two." I shook my head again. "Its all jumbled up," I said apologetically.

Klaus looked at me, a strange expression on his face. "What?" I asked him.

He looked like he was going to say something, even opened his mouth. Then he shut it and said something else. "Nothing. Once you wake up, dreams usually aren't remembered."

Sunny nodded her agreement.

"Sorry, guys. I didn't mean to wake you up."

Sunny smiled at me. "Its not a problem, Vi."

I smiled at her, knowing the smile didn't quite reach my eyes. How could it, with the contents of the dream still wearing on my heart and mind? But I smiled anyway, not noticing Klaus' smile, too, failed to reach his eyes. Klaus left the room, Sunny following him, each to their own bed. I sat back down on my bed, trying to decide. Had I made the right decision in not telling my brother and sister the truth? Sometimes I wondered if Klaus knew already. He had never made a comment, but there were some things I did that I knew didn't make sense to normal thought. I wore long sleeves, even in the middle of summer. I slid the sleeve of my shirt up, eyeing the long, skinny scar there. I shuddered and quickly pulled the sleeve back down, upset that I couldn't hide the memory as easily. This was going to be one of those nights. I knew sleep was useless now, so I flipped the lamp on. It sat quietly beside my bed on a nightstand very similar to the one I had had before the fire. I looked under my bed, finding my diary and a box of pencils. As I had done when we had lived with Uncle Monty, I had posted paper on all my walls when we had moved into the new house. I quickly pushed the diary back under my bed, not wanting the flood of memories to come. It was too late, of course, my subconscious had already forced me to visit one memory I hated. Quickly, I turned my thoughts to inventing. I walked to the desk that held some books, records and a record player, among other things. This desk was also very much like the one I had had before the fire. I put Beethoven on, hoping Moonlight Sonata would soothe my disturbed mind. I turned the volume down, not wanting my siblings to know that I remained awake. I wish I had known then what I knew now: that everything would be alright, even if it wasn't perfect, that I and my brother and sister would survive past all the evil that had been pulled into our lives thanks to a man named Olaf. Despite my best efforts, my mind returned to those days and tears began to fill my eyes. _Damn it. _

I cried as I invented, hearing nothing but the sounds of my own pain and cruel laughter.

A/N:

So I think I realized that I may have confused you all. Thanks to Violet Aiken (my first reviewer !) for pointing that out nicely. So, its a one-shot but with chapters...yeah, it doesn't make sense, but not much of my life does...


	2. From a Different Perspective

This piece will be short. This is what Klaus is thinking...

I heard the sound of things being shuffled around, then the sound of a needle being drawn across a record and knew that Violet was _not_ sleeping. She adjusted the volume on the player but the notes of Moonlight Sonata still drifted to me. This was not the first time that I had heard her wake up to a nightmare nor the first time that she had remained awake after such a horrible dream. I thought about asking her, about confronting her. I dismissed the idea. She would talk about it when she was ready. Not for the first time, I felt a stab of guilt that I hadn't realized what was happening earlier, then another stab as I had been unable to do anything about it. I rolled over onto my side, trying to sleep, to find solace in the fact that Count Olaf couldn't come near us. I smiled in spite of my current thoughts. Violet had gotten a restraining order against him.

Please review!


	3. Going Through the Motions

A/N: Ok, so that last chapter was short but hopefully it was sweet. Anyway, this is back to Violet's view and the remainder of the story will be written that way. Thanks for all my reviews :)  
P.S. VioletAiken, are things clearer now?  
Oh, yeah and just so its said, poor college kid who truly doesn't own much, not even the computer I'm typing on. If I owned any of the characters, do you think I'd be taking out student loans?

Going Through the Motions

When Klaus entered the kitchen, I greeted him with a smile.

"Good morning. Sleep well?" He grimaced, "Well, better, after…?"

I forced a laugh, despite my heavy heart. "Yes," I lied. I was cooking breakfast, as usual, but wanted to do something better than scrambled eggs this morning.

"Will you tell me a recipe to make? I want to try something new."

Klaus looked thoughtful and I knew he was going through every recipe he had ever read. "Let me check and see if we have all the ingredients, before I tell you this recipe." He turned to the refrigerator and opened its door. He took out: milk, eggs, flour, strawberries, whipped cream and other things that I didn't even know we had.

"How about made from scratch strawberry pancakes?" he said with a smile.

"Yum!" Sunny said as she entered the kitchen. "Sounds good to me!"

It was not a school day so we had plenty of time to try a new recipe. We spent the morning perfecting our strawberry pancake recipe which Sunny added to the Bauldelaire cookbook, a book of recipes that we had either made up, been forced to learn or had been taught during the time we had been shunted around to different guardians. Starting the book was Puttanesca sauce. That recipe made me think about Count Olaf so I never made it.

As we were cooking, Sunny looked at me slyly. "So, Violet…what did you want for your birthday? Its in four days, right?"

It was all I could do to keep from laughing. The way she had phrased the question was almost too much.

I pretended to think, knowing full well she had already gotten my present and that she and Klaus were going shopping after breakfast. "Hm…I'm not sure…how about a saber-toothed tiger?"

Sunny did laugh at that. "Well, I'll try…" she said, still smiling.

I did my best to look stern. "Now, Sunny, if you have four days, that shouldn't be hard to find."

She laughed even harder, tears of mirth filling her eyes. We both knew the saber-tooth tiger was extinct and had been for quite a while. We started cleaning the kitchen. Making pancakes from scratch was messy. Finally, we had finished cleaning up, all the ingredients and cooking utensils had been put away. I saw Klaus give Sunny a look.

"Wow, that was a lot of strawberries. Sunny, was that the last of the strawberries?"

This was obviously a pre-pared skit for my benefit.

"Yes. I think that was. I think we should go get some more," she replied in a flat tone, as if she was reading a script.

"Good idea," Klaus said with false cheer, as though, he, too, were reading from a script. I covered my mouth with my hand, trying to not burst out laughing.

"Violet, we'll be back in a little while," he said in his normal voice while Sunny grabbed their coats and shoes. To my surprise he reached up and gave me a hug, releasing me quickly. Again, I wondered if Klaus knew. Maybe he had just realized that I hadn't slept well and wanted to cheer me up. I was doubtful of that but had found the surprising display of affection refreshing. Sunny waved good bye as she and Klaus left the house. I sighed. Alone again.

I wandered aimlessly around the house, finally heading to my room. The house was very quiet. I wasn't really used to it. It wasn't a large house and we could usually hear one another. The silence was becoming deafening so I chose another record and put it on, not paying attention to the musician. My hair remained pulled up from last night and I looked back over the papers my inventions were displayed on. I made a few marks on one of the machines, noting that something else beside gasoline could be used to run its engine. I kept dragging the sleeve of my dress through the pencil marks, smearing them. I pushed it up impatiently and kept working. Finally, I was finished and stepped back to critique and admire my work. It was an interesting concept, I just wasn't sure if it would work in reality. I stood away from the wall and thought, tweaking the design. Sounds from downstairs brought me out of my thoughts. I would work on applying the design tomorrow, I decided, and made my way downstairs. I paused on the stairway and called out, "Can I come downstairs?"

I had my eyes closed in case there was something I wasn't meant to see. I heard two people move faster and whisper. I smiled to myself. I heard Sunny's lighter footsteps on the stairway. She stopped in front of me.

"No peeking, Vi-" she stopped. I opened my eyes, my hazel ones meeting her blues. Her eyes were on my arm. I followed her line of vision. She was looking at the scars.

"What happened…?" she almost whispered, all humor gone from her face.

I was at a loss of words. I thought quickly. "An accident at work," I lied, waving a hand dismissively.

"Oh." Her voice was doubtful, her eyes still on the marks that marred my otherwise perfect skin.

Klaus called her name from another room, she turned and I pushed the sleeve back down. She walked down the stairs and gave me a backwards glance before going in the other room.

What was I thinking? Letting Sunny see that…I shook my head. I heard the gong of the grandfather clock. It was six o'clock. They had shopped and I had worked through the entire day.

As I pulled the ribbon from my hair and tucked it safely away, I called into the room occupied by Sunny and Klaus, "What do you want for dinner?"

My mind was not on what I was cooking and I burned most of the food. We were able to salvage enough to have a decent meal but not the gourmet dinner I had been cooking. The table was quiet. I didn't really eat my food, so much as push it around and build piles with it.

I looked up as I realized that Klaus was calling my name.

"Sorry. What was that?" I raised my head off of the hand that had been supporting it. Both Sunny and Klaus were staring at me. No one said anything for a few seconds, then Klaus cleared his throat.

"I asked how your day was?"

"Oh. It was alright. I worked on a new invention. Its an engine that would run off of hydrogen instead of gasoline. Right now its just a concept but I'm going to work tomorrow on its principles."

Klaus nodded. "Sounds very interesting. There's actually a few people who have proposed that very idea but its never become a reality."

"Really?" I asked him, a little dismayed that I hadn't thought of this idea first.

"Yes. If you'd like, I can pull the books. I believe we have them in our library."

I nodded my thanks.

"How was your day?" I asked the two sitting across from me.

Sunny and Klaus exchanged glances. They knew I was trying to figure out where they had gone, and, what they had gotten me for my birthday. I was famous (among the three of us, anyway) for finding my presents before Christmas.

"We went to lots of places," Klaus said carefully, a smile tugging at his lips.

Sunny nodded agreement.

I thought about pressing them, but decided, just this once, that I wanted my presents to be a surprise. I was surprised to find that my appetite had suddenly resurfaced. The piles of food suddenly disappeared. I realized then, that Sunny and Klaus' plates had been cleaned a long time ago.

Hey, in case you're bored, I've got an idea...Review! (Thanks!)


	4. Facing Down Demons

A/N: Hey. Thanks for all the reviews, some of y'all crack me up! (even though it shouldn't be funny...) As for everyone thinking they know what's going on-well, your probably right. But, if you please, continue reading, I love (!) knowing somebody is! Sorry, sometimes I should just not type...  
Anyway. Here's what y'all came for... Pleaseset your moods from humorous to serious.

Facing Down Demons

That night, I got into bed, praying that no nightmares would plague me tonight. I needed to sleep well, if I was to keep from making mistakes, like the disaster of letting Sunny see my arm. For almost seven years, neither of my siblings had known my secret or even that I had a secret. I didn't want that to change. They were happy, and I for the most part, remained happy.

I was woken up for the second time in two nights. This time, however, it wasn't because of a nightmare. I heard someone crying. That person was right outside my door. I got up and softly walked to the door. I opened it and found Klaus, a stack of books scattered beside him, his knees pulled up to his chest, crying softly. I kneeled beside him.

"Klaus?" I almost whispered, not wanting to wake Sunny up. "Klaus, what's wrong?"

He didn't look at me until I shook him gently. He lifted his head up from his knees and looked up at me with red eyes. "Violet? What are you doing here?"

"You're outside _my _door," I teased gently. "C'mon." I picked up the books and guided him downstairs to the library. We had furnished it exactly like our library in the Baudelaire Mansion. I pulled the doors shut, in case our voices carried. I put the books down on a coffee table and pulled two of the comfortable armchairs closer to each other. He sat in one, I, the other.

"Now. Klaus, what's wrong?"

His eyes were clear and he just stared at me. After a few minutes, he spoke quietly. "I'm sorry, Violet."

I was really confused now. "You're sorry? For what?"

Slowly, he got up and walked the few steps to me. He gently grasped my arm and pulled my sleeve up. The scars were plainly visible. I stared at my arm as if it belonged to someone else. I was so shocked I didn't even resist when he did the same to my other arm.

Klaus pulled his chair closer and sat back down. "I'm sorry for _that_, Violet."

I stared at my arms a moment more, then shoved the sleeves back down. I was angry and I wasn't even sure why. I fought to get myself under control before speaking.

"How long? How long have you known?"

Klaus shook his head. "At first I didn't. I saw the way you acted around Olaf. I saw that you hated him but I just thought that was because he was such an despicable, greedy person. I didn't know he was hurting you."

Klaus broke off, shaking his head. The memories I had tried so hard to bury were flooding back. Olaf coming to the room the Baudelaire orphans had shared and taking me down to the basement. Beating, burning, cutting…anything to inflict damage. Tying me up with rope or chaining me...

"I…" Klaus's voice was hesitant. "I remember one night waking up and not seeing you there. I thought it was strange but I guess because I was so tired I didn't remember it in the morning. I'm sorry for that, too." Tears were reemerging in his eyes. I still wasn't seeing Klaus. I was remembering Olaf's laughter, his sick pleasure as he brought me pain.

"Violet…?" Klaus whispered. My eyes refocused and I looked at him. "Why didn't you tell us? We could've-"

I cut him off, all the anger pouring out. "Could've what? Run further from him? Told some idiot adults what he was doing! What would've been the point! They never LISTEN!"

I was on my feet, hands clenched at my sides, practically yelling at my brother, tears streaming down my face. Klaus stood up and wrapped his arms around me. I started sobbing and couldn't stop. He knew I wasn't yelling at him. I was yelling for all the injustice we had ever had to face, for all the pain we had felt at other people's hands. I was yelling for all the times Olaf had hurt me, for the emotional scars I carried and from the sadness I felt every time I thought about my parents. Our deceased parents who had planned for everything and nothing. I was yelling at them, too, for leaving me and my siblings alone with unfit and unfortunate guardians. Finally, I was done crying and I stiffened reflexively. Klaus stepped back and we both sat down. He had never seen me that upset. He had seen me scared and had seen me cry but never like that. But he didn't look startled or scared of me.

"Sorry, Klaus."

Now he did look startled. "Violet, you don't have anything to apologize for. Its about time that you released that anger. You've had it bottled up for so long now…"

He was right. For almost seven years, I'd lived with the thoughts and the memories, unable to speak them out loud, doing my best to forget they even existed, burying the diary I had wrote them in.

"If you didn't know then, how did you figure it out?"

"That reoccurring nightmare. It seemed to happen only when we had had to do something about Count Olaf. I remembered talking about him one night and then a few hours later, you had woken up screaming. I did some research, combining it with what I already knew about pyschology. I connected the dots, so to speak." Klaus shrugged. "But I was never completely sure and I didn't want to press you if nothing had ever happened.

"There were other things," he continued. "Like, last night, you had the nightmare again. You only mentioned Count Olaf and yourself being in the dream. I noticed how you kept your face blank when you told us it. Sunny mentioned that she had seen scars on your arms today. I thought about all the clothing you have and how your shirts cover your arms and your dresses cover all of your skin. Even your night clothes cover you up,"he said, pointing to what I was wearing now.

He was right, of course. Olaf had taken full advantage of my dress's covering potential. Later, when I began buying clothing for myself and my siblings, I continued the trend.

"So what do I do, Klaus?"

"What do _we_ do, Violet," he said firmly. "We are a family. We'll face this together, just like every other horrible thing we've ever been through."

Klaus's expression softened. "Violet…I…I'm sorry to ask you this but…did Olaf do anything else?"

I looked at him. Confusion flit across my face. Then I realized what he meant. "No. The abuse was physical only."

It felt so strange to talk to, well, _anyone_ about this. I had done everything I could to convince myself it had never happened, even though all I had to do was look at myself to see the evidence.

"Would you feel comfortable talking to someone else about this?"

Klaus knew the question was loaded when he asked it but he did it anyway.

I shook my head. "I…I honestly don't know. This has been the first time I've even talked about it with you and you're _family_." A look of pure terror masked my face.

Klaus saw it and I saw fear flash across his face, mirroring my own. "What?"

"Sunny," I whispered. "What do we tell her?"

The fear faded from Klaus's face.

"It is up to you. Though she would probably prefer the truth."

"She's so young, though." Then I shook my head. After all the horrors we'd been through she'd been the youngest the entire time.

"Sorry. I'm sure this is not how you'd want me to hear this."

The door knob twisted open and Sunny came in.

I looked at her and noticed that she had been crying, too. "How much have you heard?" I asked, afraid of the answer.

"All of it." Despite her age, she crawled into my lap and wrapped her arms around me.

"I'm sorry we didn't know, Violet."

I sighed. "Truly, it wasn't your fault."

"You have been so strong for us throughout these years. Please, _please_, let us help you," Sunny said, Klaus agreeing with her.

"Okay," I said softly, not really sure what to say or even what to do.

So we talked. They asked me questions and I answered each one, no matter the pain it caused me. As we kept talking, the pain seemed to lessen. In the background, we heard a chime. The grandfather clock chimed five times and then stopped. We had been talking for most of the night and into the morning. At that last chime, Sunny and Klaus looked at me.

"Happy Birthday, Violet."

A/N: So what did you think? (I know, I know, some of y'all already guessed it...) Only one more chapter to go...


	5. Epilogue: Drive Away

A/N: The last chapter of this story should be treated more of like an epilogue than an actual chapter...sorry if that's confusing, but you'll see why I say this after you read it. Thanks for all the reviews-hope this covers it for those of you who asked what would be next for Violet? (Ok, maybe you didn't say it in so many words...but...leave me alone, I am seriously caffeine deprieved...)  
Anyway. Here we go...

While it is true that that sort of pain and abuse does not go away over night, that night was the first step to my recovery. Whether or not the recovery would ever be full was questionable but I had my brother and sister to lean on. My siblings had given me my best birthday present. They had begun to free me from hooks that ran deep and to help heal the emotional scars I still felt.

Years later, Olaf would be caught for some crime, what it was does not matter. I would go before the judge and jury and tell them every thing from the least to the most that that evil man had ever inflicted on me or my family. I would watch as his shiny, shiny eyes lost their glow as I recounted all the abuses he had heaped upon me before moving on to the way he had made my siblings suffer as well. I would have the satisfaction of facing my worst fear and watch it be carried away in chains. As Olaf was placed in chains, I would feel as if my chains were being removed. With the help of my family, I would finally be free.

I remembered the words I had read on a burned archway so many years ago. Now, the world is quiet here.

So, I hope you enjoyed it. This was one of the few stories that I've ever just sat down and wrote so if there are mistakes, which I'm sure there are, please let me know and I'd be more than willing to fix them.

I've asked myself a few times why I decided to write this. The answer is: I have no clue. I thought about rape but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Somethings you just don't write about (that's just my opinion however, I've read a few really great stories that deal with rape, so...) Hope you guys enjoyed it. Thanks for hanging with me through the ride.


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